Feuds and rivalries are very common in Hollywood, with even legendary names like the renowned filmmaker Steven Spielberg not being a far reach for it. While his iconic long-ongoing silent dispute with Hollywood heartthrob Tom Cruise was one thing, the Jurassic Park saga helmer held an even greater skirmish with one other celebrity.
This celebrity was the late actor cum political activist famous for his leading man roles in multiple genres, Charlton Heston. As it turns out, Heston wanted to star in one tremendously acclaimed film from Spielberg, but the latter’s rejection led him to develop a conflict with him that was great enough to eclipse even the director’s vendetta with Cruise.
Steven Spielberg’s Discord with Charlton Heston: How It All Began
Steven Spielberg has forever been one of the best project-tamers in Hollywood, and his masterpieces speak volumes about his outstanding approach to it all. For instance, his box-office blockbuster Jaws is the perfect depiction of not only sheer brilliance in storytelling but also an incredibly immaculate casting choice.
However, not everyone was happy with this casting choice. This other part of viewers holding a different perspective on the saga included the late actor Charlton Heston as well, who was especially not okay with Roy Scheider‘s casting in the role of the protagonist Martin Brody. This was because he himself wanted to play that role.
As reported by Far Out Magazine, Heston really, really wanted to score the part of Chief Brody because pretty much everyone surrounding the movie was seemingly sure that it would become the talk of the year. This meant that the lead actor in the saga would be launched to extraordinary heights of success — something that seemed to greatly attract the late star.
While Robert Duvall, who pretty much inspired and encouraged the making of his shark-oriented masterpiece, turned down the offer to play Chief Brody because of this very reason, Heston wanted to be the one bagging it instead. However, Spielberg had a different opinion: He didn’t want an already-hot name attached to the movie.
But Spielberg’s perspective wasn’t unreasonable either. Having an already-established hotshot — whose character always won in the projects he took on — in his movie would have inevitably killed the suspense element of it as most of the audience would have subconsciously presumed Heston to be in the winning team, making it all seem too predictable.
Yet, this perspective rubbed the late actor, famous for his leading roles in multiple fields like biblical epics, science-fiction, and action films, the wrong way. That was that, and thus began the rivalry between Spielberg and Heston, which was so intense and went on for so long that it could even rival the filmmaker’s discord with Tom Cruise.
Charlton Heston Stayed Loyal to His Feud with Steven Spielberg
While pretty much every actor lets go of the role they got turned down from, thinking they got to meet with other opportunities because of the same, Charlton Heston was seemingly one to hold a grudge. This is because his disapproval of Spielberg turning him down went as far as vowing that he would never work with the director ever again.
Even when the opportunity arose with 1979’s comedy/war 1941, for which Spielberg reportedly approached Heston for the role of Maj. Gen. Joseph W. Stillwell, the late actor’s response was a glad “no.” The part eventually went down to The Untouchables actor Robert Stack, and Heston seemingly happily stayed loyal to his feud with the director.
Looking back at it now, the 1979 movie wasn’t the best of Spielberg’s pieces, faring a fine enough revenue of $92 million from box offices worldwide on its budget of $35 million (via Box Office Mojo). Nonetheless, Steven Spielberg still went home with a star-studded $477 million from Jaws on its budget of a meager $7 million (via Box Office Mojo), so we’re sure he didn’t have that many regrets about it all.
You can stream both Jaws and 1941 on Prime Video.
